


no harder than taking a new name

by Molebear



Series: Stranger Senses [5]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, drabble challenge, so. much. fluff.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 03:03:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18379637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Molebear/pseuds/Molebear
Summary: In the end, she finds it: the name that suits her best.(final part of theStranger Sensesdrabble challenge)





	no harder than taking a new name

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: no harder than taking a new name  
> sense: touch

The coldness of their hands was something she thought she'd never be free of - those clinical, invasive touches that prodded and examined and searched, blunt steel instruments seeking answers she didn’t know how to give. She'd been nothing but subject 011, and the only softness she'd ever known was when she would curl up in that unyielding bed with its crunchy sheets and ghost her hands over her own shoulders, pretending it was someone else touching her. Someone she'd never met. Someone who loved her.

When Mike had named her El, it was the first thing that'd ever been _hers_ , the first time she'd ever had a choice. Being El was the opposite of being 011; it was the cozy wool of Mike's sweatshirts, the warmth of his blanket fort, the ruffles of Nancy's pink silk dress.

Eventually she became Jane Hopper, a name that was so painfully _normal_. Like it was meant for a girl whose childhood was full of ballerinas and teacups and dolls. Not for girls who knew how much it burned to be branded, or how hard it was to fall asleep on a bed of moss in the middle of a brutal Indiana winter.

In the end, she finds it: the name that suits her best. Mike is giddy beside her, practically bouncing on his toes. Her handwriting is shaky, the pen slipping in her sweaty grip, but when she signs the papers that officially make her _Elle Wheeler_ , she's smiling so big it hurts.

**Author's Note:**

> final part of the [Stranger Senses](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/strangersenses/profile) 250-word drabble challenge, concocted in 2018 with the amazing & unmatched [prairiewolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/prairiewolf). her absolutely gorgeous contributions to the challenge can be found [here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18367859/chapters/43492295)
> 
> thank you so much for reading! :) <3


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